Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

3rd November

Today was our trip down Loch Ness to see Urquhart Castle. I’ve been coming this way since I was six years old, but have never actually been to the castle. It was awesome.

The weather was decent for the most part; had a couple of showers but it was primarily bright, if cold. (One would not expect anything other in Scotland at this time of year.) We took a couple of stops along the way, and I found historical markers all over the place. I guess there is no shortage in the region. ;-)

Loch Ness was glassy and clear. I remember standing by the waterside being encouraged to shout “Ness-ie!” in case the monster came up for a photo call. Wouldn’t we have been surprised if she had ;-)

Urquhart Castle itself is fantastic. It’s one of the few properties that Historic Scotland charges for, which in and of itself gives you a few clues. They look after ancient sites and ruins, as well as designating less impressive properties listed buildings or scheduled ancient monuments, but the ones with a price tag attached are the crème de la crème.

You go in through the visitor centre, and there’s a surprise, which I won’t spoil here because some of you might eventually go. Then you come out and are looking down on the castle with green lawns and a magnificent view over Loch Ness. The castle was voluntarily blown up in the 17th century to prevent the Jacobites from using it - typical - so it’s more ruinous than it might have been. But a lot is left, along with good paths and you can go up the main tower on a dizzying, worn spiral staircase. Like all good castles it has its nooks and crannies, but it also has some magnificent views and a fantastic atmosphere. I was transported back to childhood as I explored - my parents went at a more sedate pace and let me get on with it - I was glad of all the gym time as I wasn’t as breathless as I might otherwise have been, climbing steps and all sorts.

Eventually I considered myself done, so we went back and I bought multiple souvenirs and came out with a wad of brochures and information, like a good little travel writer.

Then we went down the road to Fort Augustus, whereupon it began to rain proper. Fort Augustus has locks in the Caledonia Canal, but I didn’t pay enough attention to it and will explore that aspect sometime when it isn’t soggy and cold. It’s a bit of a tourist trap, and I was tired, so we were there mainly so that Mam could poke around the tourist and craft shops, as she enjoys. Sharing is good.

4th November

My brother came round briefly in the morning with a flat screen monitor for my laptop. At least I can use it to write now! It was lovely to see him, he looked well.

We went to Inverness in the morning, so that I could wander around looking at old Victorian buildings, of which there were plenty. We went up to the castle - now used as a court - with its Flora McDonald statue, complete with seagull on her head. There were quite a lot of plaques set out and I found a nice round one that neither parents had ever seen. They apparently can’t wander around without seeing plaques and thinking about me. One day they might even join - but not before the Highlands gets Broadband (July next year - whee!)

I like Inverness. It’s a bit like a small Glasgow but it has its own charm. It’s of a manageable size while still feeling like a city.

Afterwards, we went to Beauly where I treated my parents to a pub lunch. I had a rather tasty but intriguing ploughman’s. Ploughman’s lunches are usually cheese, salad, pickle and a slab of bread. This one had all that, but also rice, coleslaw, grated cheese, and a lot of other stuff. We think they decided they would put a bit of everything in the kitchen on the plate. ;-)

When we got out we were going to Beauly Priory, but the skies opened and it poured, so we didn’t. Instead we took the long drive home via Cromarty, which is a lovely old fishing village. There, it poured gratuitously for a few minutes as we hung out by a marker commemorating the immigrants who went to America, forced out during the time of the Clearances. Then it stopped raining and we went for a little look around. It was a nice old place and I enjoyed it very much. The streets weren’t quite cobbled, but you can imagine they were once - that time isn’t so far in the past. Here, Hugh Miller was born - we looked at his cottage - I should think this was a good place to write in. At this time of year nothing much is open, and we weren’t in that kind of mood anyway.

5th November

Remember remember the 5th of November! Today was Bonfire Night, the first one I’ve been in the right country for in years and years. I suspect my last one must have been in 1996, though I don’t actually remember it - because in 1997 I was in the USA.

Mam made bonfire food for lunch - hard treacle toffee, pork pie and mushy peas. I was impressed. (Never mind if you’re not British - it’s something you probably have to grow up with - like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ;-)

In the morning though we went to visit her friend from the craft classes, Annie. Annie’s special. She’s 92, but you can’t tell - she’s awfully sprightly. A native born Scot who speaks Gaelic, she has a wealth of stories. Apparently she was in food service to one of the English lords, and would travel round as part of his itinerary (I’m not sure if that’s the right word - it means the staff who travel round with the moneyed guy to wait on him). Only the tales she was telling made us all laugh out loud - the lord used to play with dolls and grapes, and that’s as much as I‘m saying right now because there is surely a story in this ;-). She has a great sense of humour which is very dead-pan and matter-of-fact and I wish I had a lot more time to listen and chat and maybe take notes. She took a shine to me too, not sure why. ;-)

We went to the supermarket too and had a good look around. I was thinking of buying mushy peas and so forth and Dad headed me off at the pass, very skilfully I might add. See the above paragraph. ;-)

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